The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1887-08-18

old people, and I know how they feel
about their failing health, and about their
departed friends, and about the loneli-
ness that sometimes strikes through their
souls. After two persons have lived to-
gether forty or fifty years, and one OF
them is taken way, what desolation!
l shall not forget the cry Of the late
Rev. DR.. De Witt, of New York, when he
stood by the open grave of his beloved
wife, and after the obsequies had ended,
he looked down into the open place and
said:
Farewell, my honored, faithful and
beloved wife. The bond that bound us is
severed. Thou art in glory, and am
here on earth. We shall meet again.
FAREWELL Farewellp
To lean on prop for fifty years, and
then have it break under you! There
were only two years difference between
the death of my father and mother, After
my mothers decease, my father used to
go around as though looking for some
thing; he would often get up from one
room, without any seeming reason, and
go to another room; and then hc would
take his cane and start out and some one
would say:
"Father, where are you goings"
He would answer: 81 don't know exc
actly where am going"
Always looking for some thing. Though
he-was tender-hearted man, / never
saw him cry but once, and that was at
the burial Of my mother. After sixty
years living together it was hard TO part.
And there are aged people to-day who
are feeling just such pain as that. want
to tell them there is perfect enchantment
in the promises of the Gospel; and come
to them and offer them my arm, or take
their arm, and bring them to this Cos
pei we'll Sit down, father or mother, sit
down. See if there is any thing at the
well for you. Come, David, the Fsalmist,
have you any thing en- couraging to offer
thema
eyes," says the Psalmist:
They shall still bring forth fruit in old age
they shall be fat and fiourishing to show that
the Lord is upright. He is my rock, and there is
no unrighteousness in me.
Come, Isaiah, have you any thing to say
out of your prophecies for these aged
peoplea
"Yes," says Isaiah.
Down to old age am with thee, and to hoary
hairs will carry thee.
Well, if the Lord is going to carry you,
you ought not to worry much about your
failing eyesight and failing limbs. You
get little worried for fear that some
time you will come to want, do you? Your
children and grandchildren sometimes
speak a little sharp at you because of
your ailments. The Lord will not speak
| sharp. Do you think you will come
to want? Who do you think the Lord iss
Are his gran aries emptya Will he feed
the raven and the rabbit and the lion in
| the desert and forget you. Why,
| naturalists tell US that the porpoise will
not forsake its wounded and sick mate.
| And do you suppose the Lord of Heaven
and earth has not as much sympathy as
the fish of the sea- But you say, II am
so near worn out, and / am of no use to
God any more"
think the Lord knows whetheryou are
of any more use or not; if you were of no
more use he would have taken you before
this. Do you think God has forgotten
you because he has taken care Of you
seventy or eighty yearsa He thinks more
of you to-day than he ever did, because
you think more of Him. May the God of
Abraham, and Isaac, Jacob, and Paul the
aged, be your God forever.
But gather all the promises to-day in
group. and ask the shepherds to drive
their flocks of lambs and sheep up to the
sparkling supply.
Behold, happy is the man whom God cor.
recteth.
Though he cause grief, yet will he have com
passion.
Many are the Affections Of the righteous, 3ui
the Lord delivereth him out Of them ALL
Weeping may endure for night, but JOY
cometh in the morning.
l am determined this morning that nc
one shall go out Of this house uncom
forted. Yonder is a timid and shrinking
soul who seems to hide away from the
consolation am uttering, as child with
sore hand hides away from the physi
clan lest he touch the wound too roughly,
and the mother has to go and compel the
little patient to come out and see the ply.
stefan. So / come to your timid and
shrinking soul to-day, and compel you tc
come out in the presence of the Divine
physician. He will not hurt you. He
has been healing wounds for many years
and he will give you gentle and omnipo
tent medcament. But people, when they
have trouble, go anywhere rather than tt
God.
De Quincy took opium to get rid Of his
troubles. Charles Lamb took to punch
Theodore Hook took to something
stronger. Edwin Forrest took to theatre
cal dissipation. And men have run al
| dTOunu tu0 edTGu, uOplHS III bne QuiCf
transit to get away from their mis-
; fortunes 1t has been a dead failure
There Is only one well that can Stake the
; thirst of an afflicted spirit, and that i:
the deep and inexhaustible well Of thu
} Gospel.
! But some one says in the audience:
, Notwithstanding all you have said thi!
| morning, / find no alienation for m,
troub les.'
Well, am not through yet. have lef
| the most potent consideration for the last
! am going to soothe you with the though
of Heaven. However talkative we ma,
be, there will come a time when tn,
stoutest and most emphatic interroga
ton will evoke from us no answer. Al
} soon as we have closed our lips for tn
! final silence, no power on earth can breal
that taciturnity.
But where, o Christian. will be you
spirita In scene of infinite gladness
The spring morning of Heaven waving it
!, blossoms in the bright air. Victors fresl
! from battle showing their scars. TIL
rain Of earthly sorrow struck through
: with the rainbow of eternal joy. In on
group God and the angels and the re
| deemed-Paul and Sias Latimer aut